279 lines
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279 lines
20 KiB
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<title>Blue Letter Bible: Text Commentaries</title>
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<h2>Advertisement</h2>
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<h2></h2>
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<p></p>
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<p>
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The last pages of these Observations having been differently drawn up by the Author in
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another copy of his Work; they are here inserted as they follow in that copy, after the
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22<sup>d</sup> line of the 261<sup>st</sup> page foregoing.<a href="#_edn1" name=
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"_ednref1">*</a>
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</p>
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<p>
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<i>And none was found worthy to open the book</i> till the Lamb of God appeared; the great
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High-Priest represented by a lamb slain at the foot of the Altar in the morning-sacrifice.
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<i>And he came, and took the book out of the hand of him that sat upon the throne.</i> For
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the High-Priest, in the feast of the seventh month, went into the most holy place, and took
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the book of the law out of the right side of the Ark, to read it to the people: and in order
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to read it well, he studied it seven days, that is, upon the fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh,
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eighth, ninth and tenth days, being attended by some of the priests to hear him perform.
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These seven days are alluded to, by the Lamb's opening the seven seals successively.
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</p>
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<p>
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Upon the tenth day of the month, a young bullock was offered for a sin-offering for the
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High-Priest, and a goat for a sin-offering for the people: and lots were cast upon two goats
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to determine which of them should be God's lot for the sin-offering; and the other goat
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was called Azazel, the scape-goat. The High-Priest in his linen garments, took a censer full
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of burning coals of fire from the Altar, his hand being full of sweet incense beaten small;
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and went into the most holy place within the veil, and put the incense upon the fire, and
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sprinkled the blood of the bullock with his finger upon the mercy-seat and before the
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mercy-seat seven times: and then he killed the goat which fell to God's lot, for a
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sin-offering for the people, and brought his blood within the veil, and sprinkled it also
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seven times upon the mercy-seat and before the mercy-seat. Then he went out to the Altar, and
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sprinkled it also seven times with the blood of the bullock, and as often with the blood of
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the goat. After this <i>he laid both his hands upon the head of the live goat; and confessed
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over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions in all
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their sins, putting them upon the head of the goat; and sent him away into the wilderness by
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the hands of a fit man: and the goat bore upon him all their iniquities into a land not
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inhabited</i>, Levit. chapter 4 & chapter 16. While the High-Priest was doing these things in
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the most holy place and at the Altar, the people continued at their devotion quietly and in
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silence. Then the High-Priest went into the holy place, put off his linen garments, and put
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on other garments; then came out, and sent the bullock and the goat of the sin-offering to be
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burnt without the camp, with fire taken in a censer from the Altar: and as the people
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returned home from the Temple, they said to one another, <i>God seal you to a good new
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year.</i>
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</p>
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<p>
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In allusion to all this, <i>when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven
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about the space of half an hour. And an Angel stood at the Altar having a golden Censer, and
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there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all
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Saints, upon the golden Altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense with
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the prayers of the Saints ascended up before God out of the Angel's hand. And the Angel took
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the Censer, and filled it with fire of the Altar, and cast it to the earth</i>, suppose
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without the camp, for sacrificing the goat which fell to God's lot. For the High-Priest
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being Christ himself, the bullock is omitted. At this sacrifice <i>there were voices and
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thundrings,</i> of the musick of the Temple, <i>and lightnings</i> of the sacred fire<i>, and
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an earthquake</i>: and synchronal to these things was the sealing of <i>the 144000 out of all
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the twelve tribes of the children of Israel with the seal of God in their foreheads</i>,
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while the rest of the twelve tribes received the mark of the Beast, and the Woman fled from
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the Temple into the wilderness to her place upon this Beast. For this sealing and marking was
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represented by casting lots upon the two goats, sacrificing God's lot on the mount
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Sion, and sending the scape-goat into the wilderness loaden with the sins of the people.
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</p>
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<p>
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Upon the fifteenth day of the month, and the six following days, there were very great
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sacrifices. And in allusion to the sounding of trumpets, and singing with thundring voices,
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and pouring out drink-offerings at those sacrifices, <i>seven trumpets are sounded</i>, and
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seven thunders utter their voices, and <i>seven vials of wrath are poured out.</i> Wherefore
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the sounding of the seven trumpets, the voices of the seven thunders, and the pouring out of
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the <i>seven vials of wrath</i>, are synchronal, and relate to one and the same
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division of the time of the seventh seal following the silence, into seven successive parts.
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The seven days of this feast were called the feast of Tabernacles; and during these seven
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days the children of Israel dwelt in booths, and rejoiced with palm-branches in their hands.
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To this alludes <i>the multitude with palms in their hands</i>, which appeared after the
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sealing of the 144000, and <i>came out of the great tribulation</i> with triumph at the
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battle of the great day, to which the seventh trumpet sounds. The visions therefore of the
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144000, and of the palm-bearing multitude, extend to the sounding of the seventh trumpet, and
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therefore are synchronal to the times of the seventh seal.
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</p>
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<p>
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When the 144000 <i>are sealed out of all the twelve tribes of Israel</i>, and the rest
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receive <i>the mark of the Beast</i>, and thereby the first temple is destroyed; John
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is bidden to <i>measure the temple and altar</i>, that is, their courts, <i>and them
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that worship therein</i>, that is, the 144000 standing on mount Sion and on the sea of glass:
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<i>but the court that is without the temple</i>, that is, the peoples court, to <i>leave out
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and measure it not, because it is given to the Gentiles</i>, those who receive the mark of
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the Beast; <i>and the holy city they shall tread under foot forty and two months</i>, that
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is, all the time that the Beast acts under the woman Babylon: and <i>the two witnesses
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prophesy</i> 1260 <i>days</i>, that is, all the same time, <i>clothed in sackcloth. These
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have power</i>, like Elijah, <i>to shut heaven that it rain not</i>, at the sounding
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of the first trumpet; and, like Moses, to turn the waters into blood at the sounding of the
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second; <i>and to smite the earth with all plagues</i>, those of the trumpets, <i>as
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often as they will.</i> These prophesy at the building of the second temple, like Haggai and
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Zechary. These are <i>the two Olive-trees</i>, or Churches, which <i>supplied the lamps with
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oil</i>, <a onclick="return mV('Zec',4,1);">Zech. 4</a>. These are <i>the
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two candlesticks</i>, or Churches, <i>standing before the God of the earth.</i> Five of the
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seven Churches of Asia, those in prosperity, are found fault with, and exhorted to repent,
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and threatned to be removed out of their places, or <i>spewed out of Christ's
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mouth</i>, or <i>punished with the sword of Christ's mouth, except they repent</i>: the
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other two, the Churches of Smyrna and Philadelphia, which were under persecution, remain in a
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state of persecution, to illuminate the second temple. When the primitive Church catholick,
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represented by <i>the woman in heaven</i>, apostatized, and became divided into two corrupt
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Churches, represented by the <i>whore of Babylon</i> and the <i>two-horned beast</i>,
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the 144000 <i>who were sealed out of all the twelve tribes</i>, became the two
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Witnesses, in opposition to those two false Churches: and the name of <i>two Witnesses</i>
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once imposed, remains to the true Church of God in all times and places to the end of the
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Prophecy.
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</p>
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<p>
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In the interpretation of this Prophecy, <i>the woman in heaven clothed with the sun</i>,
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before she flies into the wilderness, represents the primitive Church cathlolick, illuminated
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with the <i>seven lamps</i> in the seven golden candlesticks, which are the seven Churches of
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Asia. The Dragon signifies the same Empire with Daniel's He-goat in the reign of his
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last horn, that is, the whole Roman Empire, until it became divided into the Greek and Latin
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Empires; and all the time of that division it signifies the Greek Empire alone: and the Beast
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is Daniel's fourth Beast, that is, the Empire of the Latins. Before the division of the
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Roman Empire into the Greek and Latin Empires, the Beast is included in the body of the
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Dragon; and from the time of that division, the Beast is the Latin Empire only. Hence the
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Dragon and Beast have the same heads and horns; but the heads are crowned upon the Dragon,
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and the horns upon the Beast. The horns are ten kingdoms, into which the Beast becomes
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divided presently after his separation from the Dragon, as hath been described above. The
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heads are seven successive dynasties, or parts, into which the Roman Empire becomes divided
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by the opening of the seven seals. Before the woman fled into the wilderness, <i>she being
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with child</i> of a Christian Empire, <i>cried travelling</i>, viz. In the ten years
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persecution of Dioclesian, <i>and pained to be delivered: and the Dragon</i>, the heathen
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Roman Empire, <i>stood before her, to devour her child as soon as it was born. And she
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brought forth a man child, who</i> at length <i>was to rule all nations with a rod of iron.
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And her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne</i> in the Temple, by the victory of
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Constatine the great over Maxentius: and the woman fled from the Temple into the wilderness
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of Arabia to Babylon, where she hath a place of riches and honour and dominion, upon the back
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of the Beast, <i>prepared of God, that they should feed her there 1260 days. And there was
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war in heaven</i>, between the heathens under Maximinus and the new Christian Empire; <i>and
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the great Dragon was cast out, that old serpent, which deceiveth the whole world</i>, the
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spirit of heathen idolatry; he was cast out of the throne <i>into the earth. And they
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overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not
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their lives unto the death.</i>
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</p>
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<p>
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<i>And when the Dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which
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brought forth the man child</i>, stirring up a new persecution against her in the reign of
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Licinius. <i>And to the woman</i>, by the building of Constantinople and equalling it to
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Rome, <i>were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might flee into the wilderness into
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her place</i> upon the back of her Beast, <i>where she is nourished for a time, and times,
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and half a time, from the face of the serpent. And the serpent</i>, upon the death of
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Constantine the great, <i>cast out of his mouth water as a flood</i>, viz. the Western Empire
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under Constantine junior and Constans, <i>after the woman: that he might cause her to be
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carried away of the flood. And the earth</i>, the nations of Asia now under
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Constantinople, helped the woman; and by conquering the Western Empire, now under Magnentius,
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<i>swallowed up the flood which the Dragon cast out of his mouth. And the Dragon was wroth
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with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the
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commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ, which</i> in that war <i>were
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sealed out of all the twelve tribes of Israel</i>, and remained upon mount Sion with the
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Lamb, being in number 144000, and having their father's name written in their
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foreheads.
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</p>
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<p>
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When the earth had swallowed up the flood, and the Dragon was gone to make war with the
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remnant of the woman's seed, John <i>stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a Beast
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rise out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns. And the Beast was like unto a Leopard,
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and his feet were as the feet of a Bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a Lion.</i> John here
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names Daniel's four Beasts in order, putting his Beast in the room of Daniel's
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forth Beast, to shew that they are the same. <i>And the Dragon gave</i> this Beast <i>his
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power and his seat and great authority</i>, by relinquishing the Western Empire to
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him. And one of his heads, the sixth, was as it were wounded to death, viz. by the sword of
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the earth, which swallowed up the waters cast out of the mouth of the Dragon; <i>and his
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deadly wound was healed</i>, by a new division of the Empire between Valentinitan and Valens,
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An. 364. John saw the Beast rise out of the sea, at the division thereof between Gratian and
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Theodosius, An. 379. The Dragon gave the Beast his power, and his seat and great authority,
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at the death of Theodosius, when Theodosius gave the Western Empire to his son Honorius.
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After which the two Empires were no more united: but the Western Empire became presently
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divided into ten kingdoms, as above; and these kingdoms at length united in religion under
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the woman, and reign with her forty and two months.
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</p>
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<p>
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And I beheld,saith John, <i>another Beast coming up out of the earth.</i> When the woman fled
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from the Dragon into the kingdom of the Beast, and became his Church, this other Beast rose
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up out of the earth, to represent the Church of the Dragon. For <i>he had two horns like the
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Lamb</i>, such as were the bishopricks of Alexandria and Antioch: <i>and he spake as the
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Dragon</i> in matters of religion: <i>and he causeth the earth</i>, or nations of the
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Dragon's kingdom, <i>to</i> <i>worship the first Beast, whose deadly wound was
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healed</i>, that is, to be of his religion. <i>And he doth great wonders, so that he maketh
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fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men</i>; that is, he excommunicateth
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those who differ from him in point of religion: for in pronouncing their excommunications,
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they used to swing down in lighted torch from above. <i>And he said to them that dwell on the
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earth, that they should make an image to the Beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did
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live</i>; that is, that they should call a Council of men of the religion of this Beast.
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<i>And he had power to give life unto the image of the Beast, that the image of the Beast
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should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the Beast should
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be killed</i>, viz. mystically, by dissolving their Churches. And he causeth all, both
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small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand or in
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their foreheads, and that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of
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the Beast, or the number of his name; that is, the mark <img src=
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"./Comm/isaac_newton/prophecies/gifs/ad-01.gif"> or the name <img src=
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"./Comm/isaac_newton/prophecies/gifs/ad-02.gif">, or the number thereof <img src=
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"./Comm/isaac_newton/prophecies/gifs/ad-03.gif">, 666. All others were excommunicated.
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</p>
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<p>
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When the seven Angels, had poured out the seven vials of wrath, and John had described them
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all in the present time, he is called up from the time of the seventh vial to the time of the
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sixth seal, to take a view of the woman and her Beast, who were to reign in the times of the
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seventh seal. In respect of the latter part of time of the sixth seal, then considered as
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present, the Angel tells John: <i>The Beast that thou sawest, was and is not, and shall
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ascend out of the abyss, and go into perdition</i>; that is, he was in the reign of
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Constans and Magnentius, until Constantius conquered Magnentius, and re-united the Western
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Empire to the Eastern. Then he is not during the re-union, and he shall ascend out of the
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abyss or see at a following division of the Empire. The Angel tells him further: <i>Here is
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the mind which hath wisdom: the seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman
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sitteth</i>; Rome being built upon seven hills, and thence called the seven-hilled city.
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<i>Also there are seven Kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come;
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and when he cometh, he must continue a short space: and the Beast that was and is not, even
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he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition.</i> Five are fallen, the
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times of the five first seals being past; and one is, the time of the sixth seal being
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considered as present; and another is not yet come, and when he cometh, which will be at the
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opening of the seventh seal, he must continue a short space: and the Beast that was and is
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not, even he is the eighth, by means of the division of the Roman Empire into two collateral
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Empires; and is of the seven, being one half of the seventh, and shall go into perdition. The
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words, five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come, are usually referred by
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interpreters to the time of John the Apostle, when the Prophecy was given: but it is to be
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considered, that in this Prophecy many things are spoken of as present, which were not
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present when the Prophecy was given, but which would be present with respect to some future
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time, considered as present in the visions. Thus where it is said upon pouring out the
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seventh vial of wrath, that <i>great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her
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the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath</i>; this relates not to the time of John
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the Apostle<i>,</i> but to the time of pouring out the seventh vial of wrath. So where it is
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said, <i>Babylon is fallen, is fallen</i>; and <i>thrust in thy sickle and reap, for
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the time is come for thee to reap</i>; and <i>the time of the dead is come, that they should
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be judged</i>; and again, <i>I saw the dead small and great stand before God</i>: these
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sayings relate not to the days of John the Apostle, but to the latter times considered as
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present in the visions. In like manner the words, <i>five are fallen, and one is, and the
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other is not yet come</i>, and <i>the Beast that was and is not, he is the eighth</i>, are
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not to be referred to the age of John the Apostle, but relate to the time when the Beast was
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to be wounded to death with a sword, and shew that this wound was to be given him in his
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sixth head: and without this reference we are not told in what head the Beast was wounded.
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<i>And the ten horns which thou sawest, are ten Kings, which have received no kingdom as yet,
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but receive power as Kings one hour with the Beast. These have one mind,</i> being all of the
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whore's religion, <i>and shall give their power and strength unto the Beast. These
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shall make war with the Lamb,</i> at the sounding of the seventh trumpet; and the Lamb shall
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overcome them: for he is Lord of Lords and King of Kings; and they that are with him are
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called and chosen and faithful. And he saith unto me, the waters which thou sawest where the
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whore sitteth, are peoples and multitudes and nations and tongues, composing her Beast.
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<i>And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the Beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall
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make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire</i>, at the end
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of the 1260 days. <i>For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree and
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give their kingdom unto the Beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled. And the woman
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which thou sawest, is that great city which reigneth over the Kings of the earth</i>,
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or the great city of the Latins, which reigneth over the ten Kings till the end of
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those days.
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</p>
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<h3>
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FINIS.
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</h3>
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<hr size="1" width="33%" style="text-align: left">
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<p>
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<a href="#_ednref1" name="_edn1">*</a> See <a href=
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"./Comm/isaac_newton/prophecies/apocalypse02.html#_ftn1">Transcribers note</a> in Chapter 2
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of <i>Observations Upon the Apocalypse of St. John</i>.
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</p>
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</div>
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</div>
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</div>
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<div class="return">
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<a href="./commentary/chuck_smith/index.html">Return to the Table of Contents</a>
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